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→Early Life
He was born on September 21, 1871 in the village of Parsas on the island of Crete. He entered the [[Seminary of the Holy Cross]] in [[Jerusalem]] in 1889. He was tonsured with the name Meletius and [[ordination|ordained]] a [[hierodeacon]] in 1892. He completed the theological courses at Holy Cross and was assigned as secretary to the [[Holy Synod]] in Jerusalem by [[Damianos of Jerusalem|Patriarch Damianos]] in 1900.
Meletius was evicted from the Holy Land by Patriarch Damianos, along with the then administrator [[Chrysostomos]], later [[Archbishop of Athens]] in 1908 for "activity against the Holy Sepulcher." Meletius Metaxakis was then elected [[Metropolitan of Kition]] in [[Cyprus]] in 1910. In the years before the war, Metropolitan Meletius began successful talks in New York with representatives of the [[Episcopal Church of America]], with the intention of "expanding relations between the two Churches."
After the death of [[Joachim III of Constantinople|Patriarch Joachim III]] on June 13, 1912, Meletius was nominated as a candidate for the Patriarchal Throne in [[Constantinople]]. However, the Holy Synod decided that Meletius could not canonically be registered as a candidate. Instead, he would serve as a [[bishop]] continue in his [[Cyprusmetropolis]] until 1918 when, with the support of his political allies, he was elevated to the position of Archbishop of Athens in 1918. This would be a temporary measure, for after a series of political changes in Greece, he was later deprived of his see.
== Archbishop of Athens ==
